Norm McAtee

Norm McAtee died on August 25th, 2010. He was 89 years old.

McAtee was a long-forgotten about member of the Boston Bruins, playing 13 games (0 goals and 1 assist) in 1946-47. He is the brother of Jud McAtee, who played with the Red Wings in the 1944-45 season.

McAtee was not unlike many players in the 1940s in that World War II interrupted his hockey career and we may never have known just how good players like him were.

Born in Stratford, Ontario in 1921, McAtee was a local midget hockey star before moving to Oshawa to help lead the Generals to Memorial Cup championships in 1939 and 1940. Described as a brilliant playmaker and heady checker, McAtee's future in hockey looked bright.

McAtee began his professional hockey career with the Detroit Red Wings organization in 1940. He never played for the Wings, but he did apprentice with the Wings AHL farm team in Omaha, Nebraska, as well as spending time with the Philadelphia Ramblers in the 1941-42 season.

In 1942 McAtee was summoned to Canadian war duty. He served as flying officer in the Royal Canadian Air Force until 1945. Based in the Toronto area, he continued to play hockey with RCAF teams in high level senior hockey. In 1943 his team competed for the Allan Cup, the amateur championship of Canada.

When he was discharged from military duty he resumed his professional hockey career, but by then the NHL had all but passed him by. The NHL had introduced many younger players during the war years, and they wanted to find more. Aside from the 13 games with the Bruins, McAtee would play in the minor and senior league outskirts in places like Washington, Hershey, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Tulsa, Sherbrooke and finally Troy, Ohio, where was a playing coach with the Bruins.

It was in Troy that McAtee made a home after hockey. He worked Dayton Gems games with WKEF as Color Commentator and also served as referee in the IHL. He got heavily involved in the community of Troy, serving as president of the Recreation Board for 10 years as well as being members of St. Patrick Roman Catholic Church, Knights of Columbus, Chamber of Commerce and the Troy Kiwanis Club for 30 years.

McAtee also became a legendary local golfer. He had six holes in one and six Senior Championships at Troy Country Club. He also was Super Senior Champion in Dayton.

He retired in 1984 as a branch manager with Sherwin-Williams Paint Company after nearly 30 years of hard work.

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Paul Ronty

Very good players on very bad teams tend to be forgotten about in history's eyes. Case in point - Paul Ronty.

Ronty was a lean center described as a stylish playmaker who twice finished top five in NHL scoring while with the Boston Bruins. He found success centering "the Muscle Line" with Johnny Peirson and Kenny Smith.

"We had one really good team with Boston in 1949," he recalled. "With Milt Schmidt and Frank Brimsek, Woody Dumart, Murray Henderson and many others. We finished second but we met the Leafs in the first round of the playoffs after they finished fourth, and they knocked us out. That was the year Teeder Kennedy had a terrific series."

Ronty lasted only three full seasons in Boston before he was traded to the New York Rangers for Gus Kyle. He spent the bulk of his career in Manhattan, playing almost four complete seasons with the Rangers. He centered the "Light Brigade" line with Wally Hergesheimer and Herb Dickenson as his wingers.

He would actually end his career with 10 games (including playoffs) with the Montreal Canadiens in 1955. Don't think he was brought in late in the season to replace Rocket Richard, who was infamously suspended for the rest of the season following the Richard Riots in Montreal. Ronty was actually brought in to replace Kenny Mosdell, who came up lame with hip injury.

Ronty was excited as he thought maybe this would finally be his chance to play on a winning team. But the distraction of the Richard situation combined with the strong first round play of opposing Detroit ousted the Canadiens. Ronty never even registered a point, even though he played on a line with Dickie Moore and Busher Curry.

The Habs would go on to win the next five Stanley Cups in a row, but not with Ronty. Just 27 years old, Ronty retired in that summer of '55. The Canadiens refused to offer him a guaranteed contract, instead offering him a training camp tryout. Ronty refused, and returned home to Boston to be with his family.

"I had a 6-year-old son then and I didn't think it was fair to keep moving him around," he said.

Ronty found work as an insurance broker in Boston.

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George Owen

George Owen started his hockey career as an amateur legend in Massachusetts. Although he was born in Hamilton, Ontario, he grew up in the Massachusetts area. He attended the Newton-Mass high school before moving on to star with Harvard University, where he also was a star football player.

Owen was a highly sought after NHL prospect back in the 1920s. His rights were held by Toronto but Owen didn't want to leave his home in Massachusetts. He remained in Boston playing senior hockey.

On January 10, 1929 Owen came closer to joining the world's best hockey players in a deal that sent Eric Pettinger to Toronto for George's NHL rights. George, a standout defensman who wore #4 years before Bobby Orr was even born, helped the Bruins capture the Stanley Cup in his first year.

Although that would be their only Cup championship in Owen's 5 year stay with the Bruins, the Bruins were a dominant team with George on the blue line. They finished first overall in the regular season in 4 of his 5 years there. The last 3 seasons George was named as the 2nd captain in Bruins history, replacing Lionel Hitchman.

In addition to being one of the earliest college graduates to play in the NHL, Owen may have been the first player to play in the league with a helmet. There is no real proof as to who was the first player to wear a lid, but there is some documentation suggesting Owen played his rookie season with the Bruins while wearing his Harvard football helmet. In those days football helmets were tight fitting leather caps and nothing like today's helmets.

George retired as a player after the 32-33 season, to become head coach at the Michigan Institute of Technology.

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Mike Gillis

But did you know that Mike Gillis was once a NHL player? In fact, coming out of junior he was so highly thought of he was drafted 5th overall in 1978! The Colorado Rockies selected the Kingston Canadians junior star ahead of the likes of junior teammates Ken Linseman and Behn Wilson, as well as Brad Marsh, Steve Tambellini and Al Secord.

Gillis was a swift skating playmaker from the left side. He never dominated the OHA scoring races due to several injuries, most notably a badly broken leg that cost him most of the 1976-77 season. He also broke his collarbone in his draft year.

Gillis' high draft billing may have been based more on potential than accomplishment. Unfortunately Gillis was never able to achieve his potential in the NHL, again due to injuries.

In fact, in his very first NHL training camp he suffered torn knee ligaments that cost him to missed significant time early in his rookie season. The knee surgery would create complications for Gillis throughout his two year tenure in Colorado.

After a total of 91 games, 15 goals and 27 points, the Rockies gave up on Gillis and his bad legs. He was traded to Boston in 1981 for Bob Miller.

Gillis played in 125 games over 4 years with the Bruins, but he was never able to come close to the impressive numbers he was able to post in the AHL. He was versatile though, as he took shifts on defense.

Gillis playing career came to an abrupt end in training camp for the 1984 season when he broke his leg badly again. This time he was unable to return to the ice, and retired the following season after Boston did not renew his contract.

Gillis was represented by Alan Eagleson at the time, and he was one of the earliest to realize just how corrupt the now-disgraced NHLPA czar was. Unable to play again, Gillis began receiving disability insurance payments from the National Hockey League. Eagleson duped Gillis into believing that it was he who successfully negotiated for the disability clause in his contract, and therefore Gillis owed him 15% of the disability money. Gillis later sued successfully for $570,000 in back payments, although much of the award went to lawyer fees.


Perhaps it was this bad taste in Gillis' mouth regarding player representation that encouraged him to become a player agent himself. He returned home to Kingston, earned a law degree from Queen's University by 1990, and by 1994 he had become a successful player agent. Some of his clients over the years included Pavel Bure, Markus Naslund, Mike Richter, Bobby Holik, and Pat Verbeek.


Gillis still had a dream of running his own NHL club though. In 1998 he lost out on the job as the first GM job in Atlanta Thrashers' history. Ten years later he became the general manager of the Vancouver Canucks.

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